What do you think it is that Malick brings that makes actors love working with him?

He really breaks down the ritual of filmmaking that we’re all used to. It frees you, in a way, when you go on to something else afterwards. You feel freer because he reminds you that all the rituals aren’t there for a reason, and that you can kind of break them whenever you want, whenever you feel like it. Because you’re always creating these moments in his films, you’re not just following a script and making what’s happening on the page. You have to invent more, and you take that into other projects, too. When you are going into a film that does have a script, you bring that spirit with you.

Were there other kinds of material he gave you to get you into your character?

He provided me with a lot of information — incredible books and films. It was kind of an education as well. A lot of great Italian films, like [Federico Fellini’s] “Juliet of the Spirits” and “La Strada.” He gave me “Middlemarch,” which I’d never read before, and “Daniel Deronda.” So a lot of Italian films and a lot of Eliot.

So your character here is basically a Fellini character crossed with an Eliot hero?

Yeah. [chuckles] She thinks marrying can help her get out of this bad situation, sort of in a 19th century way. And then, of course, that gets her into a much more tragic situation.